Month: December 2014

This year in a single word…busy. And if I had two words…roller derby. It’s been an amazing ride – I’ve done heaps, learned heaps, and even relaxed heaps this year. Here is my year in review.

January: We saw the new year in at Kaikoura, a lovely oasis. We got barriers for the roller rink and I went skating outdoors a LOT. We watched the better part of 20 seasons of Time Team. Wyatt started school and Bronwen started high school.

February: We did the Colour Run in the pouring rain (but still lots of fun!). We all went for a skatepark roadie to Timaru. I found out that I was going to be a Great-Aunt again (welcome aboard Poppy). I crashed my car, and finally got a towbar so we could go mountain biking.

March: Hockey season finished, the Rangers came third. Derby derby derby derby, intense. We had a lovely get away in Hanmer, celebrating three years of wedded bliss. At home, it rained. And rained and rained and rained…our place became Strathfield Island. Kim and Shelley got married! On a boat!

April: We cruised in the Pacific for two weeks, there was dancing and quizzes and a lot of Downton Abbey. We said goodbye to the roller rink as it was packed away for the winter – it will become something else next summer. And derbyderbyderbyderby.

May: Derby and more derby. I was given the Volunteer of the Year award from my hockey league. We went to Armageddon in Wellington, it was an EPIC good time. The Dallington bridge was closed ‘temporarily’ for repairs – aka demolish and rebuild.

June: Guess what? MORE derby! Our teams travelled to Northland and Dunedin, and smashed it. Bronwen became a derby referee. I spent a lot of time in Wellington for work.

July: It went a bit like this – Fly to Wellington, come home, go to training, go to the gym, eat, sleep, repeat. Young Arlia started playing ice hockey – and loved it!

August: We had out annual family holiday in Tekapo, it was goregous…my heaven on earth. We skated through the Lyttleton Tunnel! And of course, derby – lots of it. The Red Devils won the NZIHL Grand Final, yeah!

September: I saw lots of Wellington, home saw less of me. I had my first ever dental work – a root canal. We skated on the pier. There was plenty of derby – the Pirates came to visit and we went on a roadie to watch derby AND hockey! Hockey season started up again, the Rangers are looking mighty this year.

October: Lots of Wellington. Armageddon Auckland was brilliant, epic, amazing – I saw McGyver for goodness sake! I got my iPhone 6, and how I do love it. The derby starts to feel like it will never end!

November: Nick and Rach got hitched! We have a fab family holiday in Kaikoura. Dunedin Derby come to visit. The Aaarangers have a fantastic time on the Arrrmazing Race Arrrwards Night (pirate themed) and I won the Hard Yards award. We booked our tickets for Europe for next year.

December: ALL the derby – the Roller Derby World Cup! There was a lot of derby watched! I work until I think my eyes might fall out, looking forward to a summer of nothing much happening.

This year I had a go at focussing my attention on a few important things rather than spreading myself too thin and doing too much. My goal was to say yes and no to things more carefully, so that life didn’t get to intense. To some extent, it was a success – work was more manageable and I said no to a few personal projects for my sanity’s sake. But let’s face it, I’m just not the kind of person that can be happy and content sitting at home in the evenings watching TV. There is so much fun to be had, so much to learn and do!

You know how sometimes when you are mad or sad about something that isn’t that big of a deal, it’s actually about some other deep-seated unresolved issue? Like how I irrationally dislike someone and then realise it’s because they sound like / look like / act like my mother. Well, I just had this realisation about a jacket.

It was a really nice summer jacket. I got it from Farmers, it wasn’t expensive or cheap – just right. And I got it just before I left New Zealand on my big overseas adventure / voyage of discovery. So the jacket is imbued with meaning (though I never really thought about it like that until now). It was my freedom jacket. And it was a good jacket – it fitted me really well, it was super comfy, and suitable for many occasions.

So what happened to this amazing jacket, you ask yourself? I left it in the building in High Street on February 22nd, 2011. I had the presence of mind to grab my phone on the way out of the building, but nothing else. My poor little jacket was hanging on the back of my chair. I’ve been missing it every since. There have been other jackets, but none have been just right (too rustly, too short, long, tight, loose, wrong colour etc. etc.). I think right back in the recesses of my mind, the loss of my jacket is connected to everything else I lost that day.

So spring rolled around again this year and I started to really pine for my lost jacket. I went looking for one just like it – and I can’t find it. I even looked for a pattern with the idea that I could get a new one made. I’ve kind of found one similar on Etsy, and I’ve been debating with myself about getting it for a couple of months. Which is what led me to the realisation that the jacket has meaning beyond a piece of clothing.

Buying a new jacket is moving on, closure. It’s a good thing, but it’s also saying goodbye. Deep.

A new jacket for a new lifeMe, my jacket and the CorvetteMe, my jacket and my BFF have fun in NYCMe and my jacket have fun on a rooftop carpark in old ChristchurchMe and my jacket visit Apple world headquarters in Cupertino, California.My new jacket?